Last month I took an in-depth look at Devialet's incredible speaker, an alien-thing that outputs insane amounts of power and produces deeper bass than most home theater subwoofers. Sure, there are doubters out there, but unless you've heard one, it's difficult to explain just how amazing the Phantom is.
Devialet just announced that my crazy Silver Phantom is no longer the bee's knees of speakers. Today the company introduced its Gold Phantom, which promises to beat the Silver Phantom I reviewed into a pulp.
4500 watts of power, 108 dB SPL of sound pressure, 0.0005% THD, and an impressive frequency range of 14Hz to 27kHz.
As far as speakers go, this may not seem all that impressive. But, if you consider the size of the Phantom being roughly equivalent to 2 bread toaster ovens, then you'll know that there's some serious engineering taking place inside these capsules. I'm still scratching my head on how these speakers managed to shake my walls and furniture. Those who know subwoofers and speakers know that in order to produce low bass extension at respectable volumes, an enclosure with ample internal volume is required to move enough air. The Phantom only has 6 liters of internal volume, and much of it is taken up already by electronics and the Phantom's internal solid aluminum skeleton.
The new Gold Phantom introduces a titanium tweeter for higher upper end frequency headroom, going from the Silver's 25kHz to 27kHz. Electronically, Devialet drops the use of Texas Instrument's PCM1798 DAC for its own custom DAC which provides a high signal to noise ratio of -112dB versus -106dB, while sampling rates stay the same a 24bit/192kHz. There are also new versions of Devialet's proprietary speaker driver control system called SAM and power delivery system called ADH, which I talk about in my review of the Silver Phantom. No doubt the updated versions of SAM and ADH help the Gold Phantom maintain its composure at its new power rating.
How does SAM actually work? Devialet has a technical video showing how SAM actually gets more out of an existing speaker driver, from essentially any driver.
I've asked Devialet to provide me RMS wattage ratings for the Phantoms but the company hasn't yet provided an answer.
Aside from the myriad of input options, you can use the Phantoms connected to a PC via optical SPDIF. However, you'll be required to purchase Devialet's Dialog module, which is the only way you'll be able to listen in stereo.
Pricing? Gold Phantom rings in at $3261 USD, or £2445. Understandably, the pricing is out of reach for many, but if you can find a place to demo the Phantoms, I have no doubt you'll be impressed.
